Have you ever worried whether your 'bits' are normal? You're not alone. The images of female genitalia we're exposed to (often from pornography) are pretty selective which can lead a woman to question whether something is wrong if her vulva doesn't match. Recently Dr Pixie Mckenna of Embarrassing Bodies fame spoke out about the number of young women coming to see her wanting to be referred for a labiaplasty because "they feel they don't measure up and they don't look like other women."

We spoke to Dr Karen Morton, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician who admitted it was a similar trend in her clinic and why, in the vast majority of cases, the women fixating on the issue actually have nothing to worry about.

Why are women increasingly worried their labia are too big?

"I see quite a lot of women of all ages, although mostly young women, who are worried that their labia are too big. Women often don't know what to call them, so they say things like 'the lips' or their 'flappy bits'. And when they come and see me, I start by saying 'I do sympathise. They are a bit annoying, but they are just because we didn't become boys.' The labia are the remnants of what would have become part of male anatomy," says Dr Karen.

"Now, I've been doing this job for a long time and up until recently, it was incredibly rare for somebody to come and see me because they were worried about their labia. But now I see about one girl a fortnight who is concerned her labia aren't small enough. It strikes me that labia haven't changed, so there must be a reason women are worrying more about this. I've concluded it's because of three things..."

1. Barely there hair

"The first thing is the fashion for having no pubic hair. So everything in that area is more revealed and gets more attention. And the very process of waxing, or using depilatory chemicals means things get a tiny bit more swollen, so labia can feel a bit bigger than they really are."

2. Not fit-for-purpose pants

"The second thing is the fashion for small knickers. It's impossible to imagine that a tiny thong would hold anything in properly, so often women are worried unnecessarily and it's because they're wearing impractical pants."

3. TV makeovers

"The third thing is media coverage and the makeover programmes that give you the feeling that you should be able to adjust everything. There's a lot of self-analysis going on these days. When I go to examine ladies, I don't know what I'm going to find. Some women come to see me and when I examine them, their labia are perfectly and completely ordinary, and sometimes even a bit smaller than average."

Be aware that surgery can create its own problems

"So it doesn't mean to say I'm not sympathetic, because labia can be a bit of a nuisance sometimes, but you've got to wonder if doing something about these things is actually creating more of a problem than it is solving one.

"Labia are very crinkly and they are pigmented. They're not like the skin on your hand. If you have a cut on your hand, it's very easy to repair it because the edges will be flat and it will heal very well. But labial skin often won't heal very well at all and it'll be incredibly painful while it's healing, so I wouldn't recommend the operation unless the benefits outweigh the potential complications. If your labia are actually perfectly within the normal range, honestly I think you should get on with your life really," says Dr Karen.

"Now occasionally I will see ladies who could benefit from surgery. I do think I've dramatically improved some women's lives. I can remember a lovely 14-year-old where it was absolutely appropriate to do something about it because it was going to desperately, badly affect her self-confidence. But for the vast majority of women who come to me with this problem, that is absolutely not the case."

"If you're worried about your labia, you should probably pop to your GP. GPs will have a very good idea about it. Sometimes I get a referral from a doctor who has reassured their patient that their genitals are completely normal, but they've insisted on seeing a gynaecologist. So that's fair enough and I just give them my honest advice when they come to see me."

"Of course as a surgeon, I'm certainly not prepared to do things that are actually distinctly harmful. I wouldn't be able to live with my conscious. I never operate on anybody unless I am totally certain that their labia are absolutely outside the normal range."

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